Fernando Alonso said that the super-soft tyres have allowed Ferrari to be more competitive after finishing second at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Alonso qualified fourth but managed to jump Mark Webber at the start, before keeping pace with Jenson Button during the early part of the race. Alonso opted for a two stop strategy - putting on soft tyres under the safety car - and then pushed Sebastian Vettel all the way to the flag. He said that the improvement compared to last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix was encouraging, and that the late red flag helped Vettel secure victory.

"I feel happy," Alonso told the BBC. "I think it's the best result for us for the championship - second place - so we have to be happy. I think the whole weekend has been good for us. Seven days ago we were two minutes behind the leader and now seven days later we are fighting for victory, so definitely a good weekend. We missed victory by just two seconds, but hopefully in Canada and Valencia we can repeat this performance.

"[At the red flag] I was sitting in the car, I saw the mechanics working on all the cars and I think we are allowed to change tyres so we all put on a different set of tyres because we were struggling a little bit in that part of the race, and I think with that change it was easy for Sebastian."

Alonso admitted that the car hadn't been changed since the last race and that the improvement in performance was a combination of track and tyre compound.

"I think obviously the car is identical to Barcelona so it's just related to the unique Monaco circuit that we improved our performance. But it's also true that with the super-soft tyres it seems that the car is working well - not the same as with the hard tyres. So in the next two races the super-soft tyre will be available, hopefully we can repeat this performance and the Ferrari seems to work a little bit better."